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MEMORIAL ADDRESS 



BY 



HON. WM. B. BATE, 

UPON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 

OP 

HON. ISHAM G. HARRIS 

(Late a Senator from the State of Tennessee), 
DEWVKRED IN The 

SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 



MARCH 24, 1898. 



\VASHlMGXOiSr. 

1898. 






73006 



"^ "^ REMARKS BY SENATOR BATE 

IN 

.AXXOl'KCIXG TO TUE SENATE TUE DEATH OF HIS COLLEAGUE, 

^ SENATOR ISHAM G. HARRIS. 



July 9, 1S97. 

Mr. BATE. Mr. President, it becomes my painful duty this 
morning to announce to the Senate the death of my colleague, and 
as a mark of respect I shall at the proper time make a motion for 
an adjournment, and will at some future time ask that a day he 
set apart specially for tributes to be delivered by Senators on his 
life and character. 

A conspicuous figure, Mr. President, and a familiar one, identi- 
fied as an active and influential factor in the history of this 
Chamber and of the country, is no longer one of us. Isham Green 
Harris for more than twenty years sat in this Chamber as a Sen- 
ator from Tennessee, and for the last ten years it has been my 
honor and pleasure to be associated with him as his colleague. 
He died last evening at his residence in sight of this Capitol at an 
advanced age, an age, however, which he ever kept green and 
bright and buoyant until prostrated by his recent illness. Ten- 
nessee and the entire country mourn his loss. 

The individual man and his personal characteristics are abun- 
dantly known to Senators who surround me, as they are to Ten- 
nesseans and to the general constituency. He closed last even- 
ing a long career of usefulness to the country, especially to hia 
native State of Tennessee, which honored him with her highest 
official gifts and in turn has been honored by him. 

He was a man of ideas, with high qualities of leadership and 

statesmanship, with courage to assert and ability to maintain 

them. His devotion to duty, as he conceived it, and its faithful 

and fearless discharge inspired confidence and friendship, Avhile 

it often disarmed oppo.sition. The benefit of his ripe experience 

and extended infin-niiitioTi as to the affairs of Governnient is lost 
o yist 



to us. His familiarity witli parliamentary usage and his preemi- 
nence as a presiding officer make his loss the more keenly felt by 
the Senate. His honest, earnest, and incisive mode of debate and 
his ready, emphatic, and accurate manner of deciding questions 
as presiding officer, will not pass away, but will live in the mem- 
ory of Senators and in the history of the country. 

Mr. President, Senator Harris belonged to that class of his- 
toric characters in this country known as "war governors." He 
is the last but one of that class upon either side. North or South, 
who took an active participation and presided over a sovereign 
State during that interstate struggle. 

He was not, because he was governor, an active Confederate 
soldier in its strictest sense; but all his nature and all his sym- 
pathies were enlisted upon the Confederate side. 

He was the governor of a strong and mighty State which fur- 
nished numbers of troops for the Confederate cause. They were 
organized under his administration. He could not, being gov- 
ernor of the State, enter the ranks or be sworn into the service by 
enlistment. He could not take that course, but nevertheless ha 
was alive, active, influential factor in all that concerned the move- 
ment of Tennessee and of the Confederacy in that great war. He 
was present and as voluntary aid took iDart in all our great battles. 

His life has been an eventful one, his history a noted one, and it 
will live after him. Ineed not speak of him here in this Chamber. 
Those who surround me knew him and understood his peculiari- 
ties, his personalities. He had them, and he had them in a gen- 
erous way, and he always exercised them with a proper feeling 
and in a generous manner. 

Wo may forget many things that transpired here, and some 
characters who have gone the way that he has gone; but, Mr. 
President, Senators will not forget the peculiar manner of ex- 
pression that belonged to him, with his clear, straightforward, 
direct, and incisive speech on all occasiojis, without deviation. No 
man ever misunderstood what he meant, and no one will forget 
that peculiar emphasis which was his. Neither will anyone in 
this Senate forget that promptness and readiness with which he 
always decided questions when he was in the chair. Siach was his 
history here, and it will not only live in our memories, but it will 
belong to the political history of this country. 

3181 



But he is gone. He is uo longer one of us. On yesterday even- 
ing the summons came. The clouds seemed to surround him. 
All his nature, as it were, his past life, came before me when I 
understood that he was dying. I remembered him in my young 
manhood when he was first governor of Tennessee. I remem- 
bered him later on as the Confederate war governor of my State, 
when he heard the first reveille and the last tattoo in Confederate 
camps. I remembered him throxigh the good and evil fortune of 
our Southland, ever vigilant and readj- to further the cause he 
had espoused — and that his cause was my cause— and in his dying 
hour my pulse beat a warm sympathy and my heart went out in 
reverence for the grand old veteran. 

But he is gone. Yesterday evening, a few minutes before G 
o'clock, the summons came. The shadows of death spread over 
Mm as a dark cloud; the curfew tolled the knell of his departing 
day; the soothing sound of " taps" invited sleep to the worn and 
wearj' veteran; he entered his silent tent; he sleeps there now on 
Fame's eternal camping ground. 

Mr. President, I shall move to adjourn at the proper time, but 
meanwhile I will ask for the consideration of the resolutions which 
I send to the desk to be read. 

The VICE PRESIDENT. The resolutions submitted by the 
Senator from Tennessee will be read. 

The resolutions were read, as follows; 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow of the death of 
the Hon. Isham G. Harris, late a Senator from the State of Tennessee. 

Eesolved, That a committee of nine Senators be appointed by the Vice- 
President to take order for superintending tlie funeral of Mr. Harris, which 
shall take place in the Senate Chamber, at 13 o'clock m. to-morrow, and that 
the Senate will attend the same. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect entertained by the Senate for 
his memory his remains bo removed from Washington to Tennessee in 
charge of the Sergeant-at-Arms, and attended by the committee, who shall 
have full power to carry this resolution into effect. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these proceedings to the House 
of Representatives and invito the House of Representatives to attend tho 
funeral in the Senate Chamber, and to appoint a committee to act with the 
committee of the Senate. 

The resolutions were considered by unanimous consent, and 

agreed to. 
318i 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS ON THE LATE SENATOR ISHAM G. HARRIS. 
Delivered in the Senate March 24, ISDS. 

Mr. BATE. Mr. President, the hour set apart for the Sena- 
torial ceremonies in memory of my late colleague, Senator Har- 
Eis, has arrived, and I offer the resolutions which I send to the 
desk. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Pasco). The resolutions 
submitted by the Senator from Tennessee will be read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows: 

Eesolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow of the death of 
Hon. IsHAM G. Harris, late a Senator from the State of Tennessee. 

Sesolved, That, as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, the 
business of the Senate be now suspended to enable his associates to pay- 
proper tribute of regard to his high character and distinguished public 
services. 

Eesolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the House 
of Representatives. 

Eesolved, That as an additional mark of respect, the Senate, at the con- 
clusion of these ceremonies, do adjourn. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to 
the resolutions. 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to. 

Mr. BATE. Mr. President, to my late distinguished colleague on 
this floor all the honors due to the most illustrious citizen have 
been paid by the officials of Tennessee and by the spontaneous 
affection of the citizens of the State. His body, by general and 
public request, lay in state in the capitol of Tennessee, escorted 
and guarded by old ex-Confederate soldiers, who stood sentinel 
around his bier under the two flags— Confederate and Federal. 

The memorial services on a later day at Memphis, the home of 
the late Senator Harris, were of that character which attest the 
love and esteem in which he was held by the people of Tennessee. 
On that occasion the drapery of woe gave place to the beauty of 
flowers, and the vast auditorium bloomed and blossomed with the 
festoons of smilax and chrysanthemums, while palms of ancient 
and sacred memory vied with roses in giving grace and beauty to 
a scene which bore evidence of a purpose on the part of the whole 
community to unite in a grand testimonial to the honored dead. 

Representative men, the rich and the poor, were tliere, and 

every creed in religion as well as every division in politics united 

in one testimonial to the memory of the citizen, the '-war gov- 
£is-t 



6 

ernor,'' and statesman who liad passed away. Nothing which 
affection could suggest or pride propose was omitted by that 
community which ho had served and in which he had so long 
resided. 

The glimmer of the old gray uniform on the Confederate veter- 
ans on this memorial occasion recalled the glory of the past with- 
out in the least derogating from the duties of the present. He 
had worn that uniform with honor in the camp, on the march, on 
the battlefield, and it was appropriate that a conspicuous place 
should be filled by it in the memorial service of his past life. The 
proud emblems of the Federal Union were not absent, but floated 
gracefully along with the modest little ensign that bore the cross 
of St. Andrew, with its stars and bars. 

It was a fit occasion for intertwining the two flags, and it was 
tastefully and gracefully done. Notwithstanding these honors so 
profusely paid by the authorities of Tennessee and of the city of 
Memphis and of all classes of the people, an honored custom of 
this Senate invites further posthumous ceremonies within its his- 
toric walls which have so often reverberated his voice. This 
Chamber for more than twenty years was the theater of his use- 
fulness, the same in which he played that conspicuous part in the 
public history which will be forever associated with his memory. 
It is appropriate that here, then, in this Chamber official recog- 
nition of his prominent services to the Union and to the State 
should have voice and recognition. 

I ask the attention of Senators while I briefly relate the story of 
a man — their fellow— who is gone. 

Mr. President, Isham Green Harris was born in Franldin 
County, Tenn., on the 10th of February, 1818, and died in this 
city on the 8th of July, 1897, having attained the ripe age of 80 
years, fulfilling the words of the psalmist that " the days of our 
years are threescore years and ten ; and if by reason of strength 
they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; 
for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." 

Little did the neighbors and friends of the Harris family, who 
lived in an unostentatious but independent way among the plain 
and patriotic peojile of Franklin County, Tenn. , dream that on 
the 10th of February, 1818, there was born in their midst a child 
who was destined to be a leading factor in stirring events that 

3184 



were to come to oxir country's liistorj' — one who was to organize 
troops to fight great battles — was three times to occupy the execu- 
tive chair of our great State and sit twenty years in the chief 
council chamber of our great country as one of its advisers and 
leaders. There was no special announcement of his birth by the 
parents or any special recognition of it given by the neighbors or 
the church. It nevertheless was one that has gone into history 
and will live beyond the present generation into the far futiire. 

Isham and Lucy Harris, the father and mother of this the 
youngest of nine children, were North Carolinians and of Revo- 
lutionary stock. Isham's grandfather was an officer in the 
Revolutionary war. The father and mother, leaving the Old 
North State, seeking fresher fields in which to better their for- 
tunes, journeyed westward over the mountains and settled where 
the waters of Elk River flow through a beautiful valley overlooked 
by the western range of the Cumberland Mountains. It was here, 
on a farm in Franklin County, Tenn., that these pioneer parents 
in a plain and frugal way reared and educated their children. 

The log-house home and country schoolhouse were familiar fea- 
tures in that day, and to-day Tennessee points to them, through 
the brightest pages of her history, with greater pride than can any 
king point to his palace or any scholar to his university alma 
mater, for these unpretending homes and schools were the sources 
of that great intellectual, moral, and political strength that made 
heroes and statesmen of her sons and gave an unsurpassed charm 
to her womanhood. 

But this monotonous and narrow sphere of social and business 
life, though with many attractions, was too circumscribed for 
young ambition to vault itself, and the subject of this tribute, at 
the early age of 14, with only a country-school education, full of 
manhood and self-reliance, with a heart throbbing with courageous 
impulses and a brain restless and full of resources— this boy-man, 
Isham Green Harris, with the consent and blessing of his father, 
for whom he was named, launched his little lifeboat, freighted 
with his hopes and fortune, on the uncertain sea of the future. 

Leaving home at this unripe age, he went west to Paris, Henry 

County, Tenn., which became his future home. Byway of being 

independent of the assistance of friends, ho hired himself as a 

merchant's clerk, beginning at the bottom with a small salarj-. 
31S1 



By strict attention to business, performing every duty with alac- 
rity and guided by that conspicuous executive ability that char- 
acterized all his life, he soon found himself at the head of an es- 
tablishment of his own and conducted it with eminent success. 

After having undergone varied fortune in the commercial line, 
meantime having matured into manhood, he entered upon the 
profession of the law, and soon showed his aptness in and his 
adaptability to his profession. But while he was successful in 
securing a clientage and was strict in attention to the business 
intrusted to him, he was dreaming of the future, and saw, as in 
an apocalyptic vision, another field of service in which distinction 
united with destiny. 

His taste and capacity fitted him preeminently for this new 
field, and his natural political sagacity and patriotic fervor beck- 
oned him on. The future opened its portals, and ambition, as a 
seductive siren, drew him in her charmed circle of delirium as 
naturally as iron tilings are drawn to loadstone. Henceforth the 
political field was to him most congenial, and it became the arena 
in which was performed the life drama of Isham Green Harris. 
Six years of successful practice of law brought unto him not only 
a handsome income, but established for him a reputation as a 
lawyer, and more especially as an advocate. This threw him 
actively into the political world, and in 18i7 he was honored with 
a seat in the senatorial branch of the Tennessee legislature. 

There his aptitude for successful management in political mat- 
ters entitled him to leadership, which brought him so conspicu- 
ously before the public as a Democrat that in 1848 he was selected 
as the Democratic elector for the Ninth Congressional district, to 
be followed in 1819 by his election from that district to the United 
States House of Representatives. After serving that district 
through tvv'o successive Congresses, and being renominated the 
third time, he declined to accept the nomination and moved to 
Memphis, where he was recognized as a lawyer and advocate of 
ability, and as such took high rank at that bar, then, as now, dis- 
tinguished for the ability of its members." 

But political preferment and leadership being his ruling pas- 
sion, and politics being the natural field for the exercise of his 
fine powers, he again, in 185G,came to the front as elector at large 
for the Democratic party. Those who recall that exciting politi- 



cal campaign and the issues involved, and remember that his im- 
mediate opponent was the able and distinguished Governor Neil S. 
Brown, a foeman worthy of an^ man's steel, will recognize it as 
a contest between evenly matched knights, and which attracted 
the attention of the whole State. 

His speeches on the hustings were plain, clear, and cogent, se- 
verely without ornament, and without strain at eloquence or dis- 
play, but always sensible, strong, attractive, and sometimes 
dramatic. In delivery he was earnest and forcible, and alike em- 
phatic in expression and gesture. Indeed, this grew upon him with 
age until the emiihatic seemed the dogmatic. In speaking he 
always had a definite point to drive to, and he let you know what 
it was, and generally got there in good time and in good order. 

With the triumph of his party in that campaign, Tennessee took 
rank among Democratic States, and his rich reward was a nomi- 
nation and election, in 1857, as governor of the State, In this, his 
first canvass for governor, he had for his opponent Hon. Robert 
Hatton, the nominee of the opposing party, who was young, 
** active, and talented, and it being the custom of Tennessee to have 

joint discussions between opposing party candidates, they can- 
vassed the State together. Harris was elected. He was renomi- 
nated in 1859, with John Netherland, a bright, talented man and 
famous stump orator, as his opponent. Harris Vv^as again elected. 

His third election as governor was in August, 1861, after the 
State had united her fortunes with the Southern States and war 
was flagrant. Under the constitution of Tennessee the governor 
is elected for a term of two years, and remains in office until his 
successor is inaugurated, and this inauguration is required to ba 
at the capitol and in the presence of the legislature. At the ex- 
piration of Harris's third term the capitol was within the Federal 
lines — hence there could be no inauguration, and Harris held 
over to the end of the war. 

These renoniinations and successful canvasses show the hold he 
had gained and retained in the confidence and affection of the 
people of the whole State. His three canvasses for governor, to- 
gether with performing the duties of the ofifice, brought out those 
remarkable traits of character which made him conspicuous among 
the leaders of his party. He had by nature fine executive ability, 
which was strengthened by culture and habit. This executive 

318i 



10 

quality was aided by an unflagging energy, which in turn was 
driven by a force of will that often overcame obstacles that were 
hard to surmount. 

Along with those, he had another gift or quality that was in 
evidence all along his line of life, and which contributed largely 
to his success. It is a species of diijlomacy called in common 
parlance " tact;" that is, he instinctively knew better when and 
how to accomplish an object than other men. This was to a great 
extent the result of his thorough and accurate knowledge of hu- 
man nature. His great lever power, however, that sustained him 
in seeking official preferment and maintaining himself was his 
Jeffersonian faith in the people — faith in their doing right when 
the right is understood by them — and his undeviating adherence 
to what he believed to be their rights and interests. 

Governor Harris belonged to the strict-construction school of 
politics. That school of construction was originated by Jefferson 
and Madison as a counterpoise to the growing tendency of Federal 
consolidation and as a force to bring back the Government from 
the centralization of the alien and sedition acts to the oi*iginal 
object of its creation, the Federal agent of the sovereign States 
that created it. 

It was afterwards illustrated by the genius of Calhoun and 
adorned with the abilities and virtues of Southern statesmen, and 
for many j'ears had a grasp upon the people of the South which 
only the mailed hand of fratricidal war could tear away. 

To that school of construction Governor Harris conscientiously 
attached himself. 

Whatever others may think of that theory of our Government, 
to IsHAM G. Harris it was the gospel of his politics, the creed 
that formulated his political convictions, and to it he was as true 
as tbe needle to the pole. 

State sovereignty and its resultant, the right of secession, were 

with him conscientious convictions, as sacred and binding as his 

belief in human existence. As governor it was his duty to take 

care that the State suffer no detriment, and to that end, when 

trouble and danger were in sight, he summoned the legislature in 

extra session, that a convention of the people of the State might 

take such action as their wisdom should dictate. It would serve 

no good purpose to review in this place the able messages in which 
am 



11 

he discussed the public conditions, the attitude of sections, and 
the ultimate purposes of political parties. 

It is sufficient to say that he was no fanatic, but a calm, resolute, 
earnest, and honest man in a place of great responsibility; and 
with the courage of his convictions he met the public conditions 
bj' which his State was menaced with the only remedy that was 
provided in the theory of Federal Union as he understood that 
theory. Yea, many will say he and those of us who sustained him 
were wrong; but there can be none who knew him as I and those 
who stood by him in that great crisis did who can truthfully assert 
that he was not honest in his convictions and earnest in his work. 

In the days of 1861 public events shaped themselves with a ra- 
pidity and suddenness which it is difficult to comprehend now, and 
not edifying to review on this floor. There is one incident, how- 
ever, that occurred at this juncture between the governor of 
Tennessee and the President of the United States that can not 
^ with propriety be omitted in giving the leading features of Gov- 
> ernor Harris's life. 

Excitement for weeks over the whole country had been intense, 
and culminated in the fall of Fort Sumter, whereupon President 
Lincoln called for T5,000 troops to coerce the seceded States, and 
in the caU designated two regiments to come from Tennessee, and 
asked Governor Harris to furnish them. The reply was promptly 
returned by the governor of Tennessee to the President in the fol- 
lowing words: 

Tennessee will not furnish a single man for the purpose of coercion, but 
50,000, if necessarj-, for the defense of our rights and those of our Southern 
brethren. 

There are many personal and official incidents connected with 
Governor Harris that would be interesting to know, but I forbear 
givingthem, except the following one, illustrative of hishigh appre- 
ciation of the duty of an official in caring for the public interest 
intrusted to him: There was a largo sum of money, nearly a million 
dollars in gold, in the custody of the State, known as " the school 
fund," when, on the approach of the Federal Army to the capital of 
Tennessee, Governor Harris had this fund, among other effects 
of the State, sent south. He regarded it as a sacred fund, and on 
no account would permit it to be used. Under his orders it was 
moved from place to place as military lines shifted, and kept 

3184 



12 

secure. When war scenes were dissolving and he going into exile, 
he directed its honest keepers to return it to the State authorities, 
which was done without the loss of a dollar. 

It is my purpose only to present Governor Harris in his true 
character, that of a resolute, firm man, discharging every duty 
from a high sense of responsibility to the State and her people, 
indifferent to every personal consequence and solicitous only for 
the safety of the State and the protection of her people. To that 
end, when all hopes of continued peace vanished before the Presi- 
dent's call for troops to invade the Southern States, Governor 
Harris bent every energy of liis character and exerted every re- 
source of the State to the organization and equipment of her vol- 
unteers; and so well did he work in those precarious days that by 
July, 1861, he had organized and equipped thousands of troops, 
turning them over to the Confederate authorities. 

He relaxed no effort in the defense of the State, but with untir- 
ing energy continued his efforts to place the State in a condition 
to be defended by her own people as well as by the armies of the 
Confederate States. His example as governor was inspiring to all 
the peox>le, infusing energy everywhere and bringing order out of 
confusion, until under his administration, which was during the 
entire war, over 100,000 Tennessee soldiers, as gallant and patri- 
otic troops as ever mustered under battle flag, had enlisted and 
had been as well equipped as could be under the existing condi- 
tions and completely organized in the armies of the Confederate 
States, and thus he earned the well merited, and to him the most 
higlily prized, sobriquet of the "War Governor of Tennessee." 

When driven by the events of the war from the State and it 
was no longer possible for him to discharge the duties of the ex- 
alted office, he rested not, nor sought easy berth, but immediately 
entered the field on the staff of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, and 
was with him on the field of Shiloh and personally assisted that 
gi-eat chieftain at the time he received his death shot. 

With the Army of Tennessee, under all its commanders, he 
served through all the years of the war, exerting every effort to 
mitigate the hardships of the soldiers, to supply the necessities of 
tho'r daily life, and sharing with them the sunshine and the 
Btorm, the heat and the cold, the joy of victory and the sting of 

defeat. 

ai84 



13 

Though not technically iu the Confederate army, for ho could 

not be, as be was governor of Tennessee, be was in fact its 

inseparable companion from beginning to end, and heard its first 

reveille and its last tattoo. He was emphatically the friend of 

the soldiers and omitted nothing that could contribute to their 

comfort or increase their efficiency. After the war, with all its 

disappointments, losses, and distress, the people of Tennessee 

still treasure in their hearts the sacred memory of their heroic 

soldiers. 

When all the blandishments of life are gone, 
* * * the brave live on. 

All else seemed gone, under the inscrutable wisdom of an all- 
wise Providence, but the manhood of those four years. In all the 
noblest acceptation of that v/ord, it is a precious heirloom to Con- 
federates, to be transmitted from sire to son. Of that manhood 
Governor Harris was a living examj^le, in its administrative fea- 
ture, iu its brave devotion todutj', in its unselfish attention to the 
wants of others, and in its bravery and endurance on the field of 
battle, and also in exacting demands in bivouac, march, and hos- 
pital. 

The history of Isham G. Harris is inseparably connected with 
our war period. He was then in the prime of life and in the 
zenith of his power-. He was governor during the entire time, 
from 1861-1835, of a sovereign State, mighty in those effective ele- 
ments of war, men and resources. It was an ill-starred destiny 
that came upon our country and brought a four-years carnival 
of suiferiug and death. 

When the bloodshot eye of Mars looked down upon the scene, 
it was "red with uncommon wrath," and the smile of mercy ap- 
peased it not. Ours was then a land of armed men, brothers fight- 
ing each other. Destruction and death was the order of the day. 
Every march was to a battlefield, and every battlefield was a 
graveyard. Defeat of to-day gave earnest of victory to-morrow, 
while victory to-morrow meant defeat the next day. It was a 
struggle between giants, as fierce and unrelenting as that be- 
tween Saracen and Crusader over the Holy Sepulcher when the 
battle-ax of Coeur de Lion found its death-producing counterpart 
in the magic blade of Saladin, 

It was in these times that the subject of this tribute was at the 

S184 



14 

helm, steering a mighty State tlirougli tlie crimson tide of war. 
But with peace there came not rest to his weary spirit. The tri- 
umph of the Union Army admitted of no magnanimity for him. 
The iierce passions of politics interposed to drive him into exile. 
The trumped-up charge of treason to the State, the State he had 
so courageously defended, was set in motion, and, with a reward 
for his capture, he was driven to seek safety in Mexico and there 
await a returning sense of shame to his persecutors. 

From Mexico to England was for him a change from enforced 
idleness to that business activity so necessary to his energetic and 
ever-working nature. One j'ear in business in Liverpool com- 
pleted the two and a half years of exile, during which all charges 
were abandoned and rewards withdrawn, and he was free to re- 
turn to the State and people he had served so faithfully and loved 
so well. A period of eight years followed with a successful prac- 
tice of the law, during which the clouds of political animosities 
were being gradually dispelled and the people had become free 
to exercise their right of selecting their Representatives and Sen- 
tors. 

Governor Harris became a candidate and was elected by the 
legislature to the Senate of the United States, where from 1877 to 
1S97, a i)eriod of over twenty years, he was the zealous and faith- 
ful ambassador of Tennessee to this Amphictyonic Council of sov- 
ereign States. 

This Senate too well remembers my colleague for me to recall 
the weighty words, the impressive manner, the forcefulness in 
colloquy, the ready retort, the executive ability, tact, and discre- 
tion, the parliamentary management, the courtesy that ever char- 
acterized him in the chair — for he had been chosen its temporary 
presiding officer — the firmness with which he maintained his con- 
victions, and the triumph he won. 

His was a green and fresh old age. His eyes were not dim and 
lusterless, nor was his natural force much abated. He was never 
a better or more useful Senator nor more attentive and efficient to 
his duties than in the later years of his life. Age seemed only to 
have brought ripened experience with its advantages which ho 
made available. 

Ho was generally in his seat and always a watcher, oven in 
weary nights when obstructive legislation was rampant. When 



15 

younger men were inattentive and sought sleep, he, regardless of 
age, was awake and vigilant and ready for any turn in the game 
of political diplomacy that was going on, and generally took on 
such occasions a leading and effective part in all discussions per- 
taining to the rules of the Senate and parliamentary proceedings. 
Indeed he felt, and it came to be so regarded in tha Senate, that 
debate on parliamentary proceedings was his fight, for he was 
the admitted authoiity on parliamentary law in the body. 

Mr. President, Governor Harris lived in an eventful age. No 
eighty years of human action has brought to light so many useful 
discoveries and such great results. The map of the world has 
been changed during the period of his life. Empires have ap- 
peared and passed away like bubbles on the surface of the lake. 

Continents that were comparatively vacant have become the 
abode of pov^-erful States, peopled by intelligent inhabitants that 
enjoy all the advantages of a high civilization. At his birth this 
Republic was all east of the Mississippi; at his death the tide of 
population had crossed the Rocky Mountains and built powerful 
States and splendid cities on the Pacific. What at his birth was 
the American desert has become the abode of freemen, and enter- 
prising communities now cheer the dreary wastes. 

No railroad was then found on this contiiient, nor was it trav- 
ersed by thousands of miles in which the traveler scales the lofty 
mountains and passes over the great rivers in splendid parlor 
cars, where his meals are served and he reposes on his downy bed 
while he spins along over wonderful scenery at the rate of 40 
miles an hour. At his birth no scientist dreamed that each day's 
proceeding would be distributed through the world with a speed 
that far outstrips the earth in her daily revolutions around her 
axis. Yet the lightning has become the great agent of humanity 
to distribute its messages, propel its cars, and heat its habitations. 
The telephone is the faithful agent that repeats the human voice 
scores of miles. 

The year after his birth the first steamship crossed the Atlantic. 
Now every ocean is stirred by the swift messengers of nations in 
peace and war. The world of mind and morals has been evolving 
new theories of thought and new rules of social and spiritual life. 
The activity of human genius has brought out new creations in 

3184 



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16 

every department of utility. Ancient institutions hg^ve given 
place to new and more refined and delicate ones. 

The wonders of art have outstripped the wildest visions of dream- 
ing fancy and given to human achievement boundless possibili- 
ties, that may cover the earth with charities and blessings, that 
will wipe away all tears and lull into sweet harmony the sighs 
and sorrows of the human race. 

Amid this wonderful impulse of human action this distinguished 
man has lived and acted and enrolled his name. 

Mr. President, when the end came to those eighty years of 
arduous life, when the golden bowl was broken, and the silver 
cord was loosed, and the pitcher broken at the fountain, it could 
be truthfully said of my colleague that "he died at his post." If 
not like Chatham falling on the floor of the House of Lords, or 
John Quincy Adams sinking in the House of Representatives, 
yet he succumbed from the exertion and the labor of his Sena- 
torial duties like the great English leader and the exalted Ameri- 
can ex-President. 

The unswerving patriot, Isham G.'Harris, whose long life had 
been devoted to his country, had striven to the end, and his last 
days were his best days. 

He is now in his grave — 

After life's fitful fever he sleeps ■well. 

Neither the call to the hustings, the concourse of admiring 

friends, the contests in the Senate, nor '"the rapture of the fight" 

shall again summon him to duty. His repose is tranriuil in the 

sacred jjrecincts of Elmwood, overlooking in its beauty and 

silence the Mississippi as it swells in majestic flow at the base of 

Memphis, the beautiful city of the valley. Peace to his ashes. 
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